Obituary William Leyds

My father was born in 1923 in Campina, Romania and grew up in The Hague as his father served Royal Shell. His family moved to London in 1939 after the Germans occupied Poland. Willem went to Blundell’s as this was one of the few public schools prepared to welcome a boy from the continent! He spent 2 years at Francis House and studied 1 additional year at London University before joining the Dutch Navy in 1942. He was trained as a pilot by the British Navy in Canada and Scotland flying Swordfish and Barracuda aircraft to fight submarines. Luckily the war came to an end soon after he became operational.

After the war he returned to the Netherlands to start studying mechanical engineering at Delft University of Technology. He received his Master’s degree and spent most of his career at Royal Philips in the Netherlands. He married in 1954 with Xandra Boom and raised 5 children.